Brent Marr, Portland, OregonMember Since September 2008Artist Statement Brent Douglas Marr was born in 1967, in Spokane, Washington. When younger, he spent a lot of time drawing dinosaurs and later sketched superhero characters. In Jr. High School, he began to get serious about art, particularly comic book art, drawing well-known characters such as Batman, The Teen Titans, The X-Men, and others. Later he graduated to creating his own group of superheroes “The Assembly”, which he drew in comic book form and in posters. His characters evolved and changed over the years influenced by the people that came and went through his life, the experiences of adolescence, and fantasy storylines based on Atlantis.

Through the late 80’s and early 90’s he continued drawing superheroes, but began to loose interest in the genre. He experimented with other media and subject matter eventually realizing it wasn’t the characters, but the men he loved to draw. He drew men of all shapes and sizes and experimented with oils, watercolors, pastels, and even colored pencils. He found that working in graphite, charcoal, carbon, and occasionally ink was a more natural and expressive outlet for his talents.

After briefly living in Seattle, Washington, Brent moved to Portland, Oregon, where he now makes his home. He enjoys drawing the muscular “dream man” types, but his real interest is drawing the guy-next-door and blue collar men. He has striven to make his subjects as photo-realistic as possible, working from live models, pictures, and from other sources. Though beefcake is fun to look at, Brent thinks that mechanics, construction workers, firemen, and “bears” are the real sex symbols. He hopes that people looking at his art will enjoy the same details and passion he does for the average, and not so average American male.